Regarding Sonia Furstenau’s column (Cowichan Valley Citizen, Nov. 22) I would like to make these observations.
There is no argument we must do whatever we can to save endangered species and to mitigate climate change.
What is in dispute is the extent and timing of these mitigations.
The Greens seem prepared to bankrupt Canada in their quest for instant results.
It is a quest which cannot bear fruit, since Canada’s contribution to global emissions is minuscule on the world scale.
The Greens quest would begin with “evidence based policy and decision making”.
A noble premise, but, as she notes, you can’t cherry pick your “evidence”.
Some of the “evidence” Ms. Furstenau cherry picks is flawed from the beginning.
In her attempt to discredit the petroleum industry, she calls for “culling” LNG, stating it is “the source of the problem” (the loss of Caribou habitat and subsequent decline of caribou herds all over B.C.).
It turns out, the petroleum industry is only active in the northeast of the province, but caribou range the entire province.
It’s not LNG or “fracking” that has decimated herds throughout B.C., but a host of other factors.
If the Greens are sincere in wanting to “save” caribou, they should gather their “evidence” from the wider picture in B.C. which would reveal the many sources of stress upon caribou, including many of us recreational users of our forests with noisy machines, hunters, miners, loggers, developers, and expanding wolf packs.
Further, rather than bankrupt our LNG and logging industries to reduce the relatively small emissions from those sources, we should market our LNG to countries using coal for electricity and steel and help achieve more substantial worldwide GNG reductions that way.
Canada’s strength comes from our world class resource development.
We should use this strength over the long term to finance changes to a lower emissions economy rather than create a lower emissions economy by eliminating work throughout the province.
Michael Smith,
Chemainus